Merry Christmas from The Aimless Cook!
A message from Jay
It’s that lazy time of the holidays where time seems to stand still. Usually for us it’s a time when all the in-laws and relatives are still in town, just hanging about the house, grazing on leftover turkey, and wondering how we’re gonna fit the giant garbage bag of wrapping paper in the trash bin with the rest of the regular trash. My father in-law is usually lounging on the couch with Momo (one of our Frenchies) watching the news with the volume turned up for the entire house to hear. Since the kids are notorious at sleeping in, the demand for the bathroom won’t begin until about 11. The living room is a maze with precariously piled unwrapped gifts from the day before that one has to carefully navigate around before finding a spot to sit. Usually, it’s at this point where I’m pretty much ready for the world to go back to normal.
But this year that didn’t happen. Everyone stayed in their respective hometowns and had a laid back Christmas at home. I wouldn’t blame them since all of my wife’s family lives up north and being home again after a summer of being stuck in hotels would be the best feeling ever, especially after the constant dread of wondering if your town would still be standing after half the territories and B.C. burned. But we all managed to connect, thanks to the wonders of FaceTime, 1 day shipping, and the assortment of holiday posts, dances, and memes. The living room wasn’t piled with everyone’s presents, the television wasn’t blasting the news from Edmonton, and the house wasn’t filled with turkey grazers and half dead freshly risen teenagers at noon.
That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great holiday. In fact, every few years this is exactly what happens, and just what we need. It’s a recharge of sorts that gives us the opportunity to have some quiet time together. One the things we also don’t have to worry about when there’s no influx of family around is cook a huge dinner, so that means we usually enjoy one of our family traditions: Christmas dinner in Chinatown at Great Taste.
Great Taste has been our favourite family-style Chinese restaurant of choice forever. In my generation, my parents always loved House Of Chan or Ruby Restaurant (both long gone now), but I will always remember all those details that made it special. We didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up, so eating out was always a special affair, and always Chinese food. Since it was the late 70’s and early 80’s, everything was usually brightly coloured, sweet, glossy, and came with that same fried rice with peas and carrots that was stained so dark with soy sauce. And don’t forget the wonton soup. I loved wonton soup. Frilly dumplings in that powder based soup base with a few scallions tossed in.
Back then, we didn’t enjoy the cuisine that represented the regionality that “foodies” are so adamant to write about in a facebook group post, criticizing its authenticity or some other detail like an omitted spice or technique that would make it like the one they had on their vacation in Chengdu. All I can say is, every restaurant today that has the luxury of showcasing their cuisine or culture to an enraptured diner can owe that ability to create and express themselves to the generations of restauranteurs before them that didn’t have a choice but to make Chinese food catered to a Western palate, often with local ingredients for the sole purpose of making a living in a new country.
That being said, I still have a place in my heart for the glossy Western stuff. Who doesn’t? The bright red sweet and sour pork with chunks of pineapple, or the crispy salt and pepper squid in that nest of chilies and bell pepper strips. But these days, we love to mix it up with some Chongqing style spare ribs, xiao long bao, salted egg tofu, or a huge plate of garlic gai lan. 1978 dad would never consider spending money on a plate of veg if we were at Ruby restaurant. “Save that stomach space for more lemon chicken” would be the mantra.
This year, since it was just the three of us, we invited my kitchen manager and his family to come out as well. He has a young family, chock full of toddlers and a new baby which reminded us of earlier times in the very same restaurant. All our favourite dishes are still there, so it makes for a very easy ordering experience. We got our ribs, our XLB, pan fried pork dumplings, a fried and a steamed rice, salt and pepper squid, a whole sweet and sour fried cod, gai lan, salted egg yolk tofu AND salted egg yolk shrimp, the glossy sweet and sour pork, a cold poached chicken, and tea smoked duck. A glorious Christmas spread, no cooking, no pile of dishes, no watching timers, no problem.
I would say that was a triumphant dinner with new friends and family. We had a great time, talked about raising young kids, the journey of marriage, and compared my Filipino-Canadian experience to the Filipino-Filipino experience. The food brought us together, and isn’t that the best part of any holiday? I had an amazing year, full of ups and downs. I’m sure I will write more about that as we approach the end of 2023 and I get ready to write my New Year post. Thank you for reading, supporting this newsletter and the podcast, coming out to the restaurant, and buying my merch. I hope you all had an amazing holiday and I wish you all the best.
Peace,
J